Are You Ready for the Spectrum Crunch?

4G and mobile broadband may be growing exponentially, but some things still move at the speed of government. During a recent meeting of the Wireless Communications Association International, a broadband advocacy group, industry leaders and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials exchanged ideas and shared concerns about what the FCC's Ruth Milkman calls a "spectrum crunch which will degrade services for consumers". By 2014, noted R. Gerard Salemme of Clearwire, "most mobile devices will be smart phones." Already, added Jeff Kohler of JAB wireless, "22% of our traffic is Netflix".

The meeting's participants may have disagreed over the details, but all concurred that the U.S. government should conduct a "spectrum inventory" to determine what's in use and what's still available. One solution to the spectrum crunch, explained the FCC's Milkman, would be to hold "incentive auctions". Current license-holders are unlikely to participate, however, as long as federal law mandates that the Treasury Department collect all proceeds from spectrum auctions. Most wireless companies keep an inventory of unused spectrum for use after their active holdings are deployed.

Is the solution to the "spectrum crunch" largely legislative and regulatory, as the meeting's participants seem to suggest, or can new technologies provide an answer?

Source: BroadbandBreakfast.com